Rodents of Days Past

EDI

10/11/2012-3/23/2015

Gender: female

Description: Siamese Rex

You can see how much EDI’s colouring changed from when she was a baby- she was sooty all over before and once she was an adult you almost couldn’t tell her and Astrid apart! We named EDI after an android Artificial Intelligence from a video game called Mass Effect. EDI died of an inoperable tumor and old age. In her final months, she loved visiting with Hans and I, and was content to just sit with us, for as long as possible.

Shere Khan

10/11/2012-01/31/2015

Gender: male

Description: Siamese Rex

Khan was born on October 11th, 2012, one of eleven ratbabies. Khan and Kaa were very similar in appearance, and we used to tell them apart by their shape and size- Khan was bigger, with a wider skull. Khan was a little shy, and liked to hide, but he’d still play when the others got riled up! He was named after the tiger character in The Jungle Book.
He especially liked visiting with people as he got older, and loved getting headpets. He died of old age.

NIMH and Bagheera

Yin & Yang

Nimh

Adult NIMH belly

Adult NIMH

NIMH

10/11/2012-01/21/2015

Gender: female

Description: Black Berkshire Rex (Berkshire is the description of the white underbelly marking)

NIMH died of what our vet suspected was probably lung or heart cancer. NIMH and her brother Bagheera were almost identical in colour, but in size NIMH was much smaller. NIMH would not stay still, which is why most of her photos are blurry. She loved coming to say hi, and was always curious about her surroundings- if you turned your back on her for even a second when the cage door was open, she had disappeared up onto the top of the cage and was exploring by the time you’d turned back around. We always made a final ‘escaped Nimhsicle’ check before closing the cage doors! We named NIMH after the movie “The Secret of NIMH,” which is about lab rats who are particularly intelligent.

Eilir and Nine

Nine

Nine, Seven’s sister

Nine

Nine of Nine

08/2012-01/20/2015

Gender: female

Description: Hooded Rex

Nine died of old age. Seven and Nine were the last two girls we chose in 2012 when we were looking for rats. They were snuggled together and seemed the least social- we wanted to get six rats at the time, because we thought that number would work well for us. At the time we still had two elderly girls, so with the six new ones we’d have 8 total, which we figured we could handle until our two older girls passed. We didn’t want to split up Seven and Nine because they seemed so attached to each other, and so we made the fateful decision to take them both home with us. Nine was one of our smallest girls, and most friendly. She loved exploring and visiting with new people, and she never liked to stay still, even on her last day.

EDI and Chandra

Chandra

Chandra

Chandra

10/11/2012-01/20/2015

Gender: female

Description: Siamese Rex

Chandra lost the battle. She suffered from two inoperable tumors, and our vet recommended we bring her in when her suffering became too great. She was scheduled to go in on the Thursday, but she didn’t make it. She was a real sweatheart, and very gentle, if a little shy- her kisses, though rare, were all the more meaningful, and I will miss her a great deal. Chandra started out pure white in colour as a baby, and she still had the lightest nose of all the smudge girls when they grew up. One of Seven’s babies, at some point in her first few months, one of the other ratlings decided that Chandra’s head needed to be shaved, so for most of her life there was a patch on her head that looked a little different. Chandra’s ears were a little unusual, as well- they were thicker than other rats, and she couldn’t bring them forward the way others can. We think this may be a rare mutation of the Dumbo gene, which her mother had. We named her after a character from Magic the Gathering.

George

George

08/2012-12/19/2014

Gender: female

Description:Double Rex Mismarked Hooded (Double rex is the curly fur type, which has genetically occurred twice and results in patchy fur or almost-baldness; mismarked hooded is the colour she would have been if her fur hadn’t been double rex)

We never planned to have a rat like George. She was just so outgoing, and loved me immediately- I hated the idea that she might wind up with a family unwilling to care for her well. She was one of our most outgoing and most adventurous rats, but when she was still quite young, she got an ear infection, so she also had a slight head tilt and looked a little funny! Her balance was drastically off, too, so we were always careful to watch her to make sure she didn’t accidentally fall- she had no fear whatsoever, it’s like she knew we’d never let anything happen to her. We called her George because for the first few days after we brought everyone home we were a little concerned that she might be a boy! Someone called her “George” as a joke, and it stuck.

Baloo

10/11/2012-12/7/2014

Gender: male

Description: Hooded Black Rex

Baloo was born on October 11th, 2012, one of eleven ratbabies. Baloo and Mowgli were very similar in appearance, and we could only tell them apart by spots on their underbellies- Baloo had two and Mowgli has one. Baloo and his brothers loved to play, and Baloo in particular liked to pounce around the cage. He was named after the bear character in The Jungle Book. He is missed.

Astrid

10/11/2012-11/24/2014

Gender: Female

Description: Beige Capped Rex, which later faded to Siamese Rex (Capped means she had colour only on her head)

Astrid was shy- one of Seven’s babies, she was the one who taught her siblings to bite. When she was younger she would grab your finger and refuse to let go, thinking it was a treat. She never drew blood, but we all learned to approach her carefully. Thankfully, she mostly stopped this bad habit once she became an adult. We named her not after the character in How to Train Your Dragon, but rather after a character in a book I had just finished reading in 2012 when they were born. The novel was “Dies the Fire” by S.M. Stirling, the first in a series- we had already named one of the older ratgirls after a character in the series (Eilir), and the character Astrid was that character’s best friend. Sadly, our Astrid & our Eilir were pretty indifferent to one another.

Whiskey

Whiskey

08/2012-11/21/2014

Gender: Female

Description: Mink Berkshire Dumbo (Mink is a silvery brown coat, varying from a grey-blue to a warmer brown-grey; Berkshire is a white marking on the belly, usually accompanied by white paws and a white tail tip; Dumbo is the lower, larger-looking ears)

Whiskey was a lovely and friendly little girl, always free with kisses and attention. Everyone who met her will miss her. When she was really young she used to love climbing upside-down from the roof of the cage, and she never lost her sneaky adventurous ways right to the last.

Bagheera

10/11/2012-10/28/2014

Gender: male

Description: Black Rex with a white underbelly (Rex is the curly fur type)

Bagheera was born on October 11th, 2012, as one of eleven ratlets. Bagheera and his colour-twin Nimh were the smallest of the litter, and one of them had its head damaged by their mother in the first day, because she panicked a little. Neither of them suffered any lasting damage, however. Bagheera was particularly outgoing, loved to play, and (like his sister Nimh) liked to escape from the cage to look for treats. Bagheera loved headpets, and being held tightly. He was named after the panther character in The Jungle Book.

March 2014

Kaa

10/11/2012-9/22/2014

Gender: male

Description: Siamese Rex

Kaa was born on October 11th, 2012, one of eleven ratbabies. Khan and Kaa were very similar in appearance, but we could tell them apart by their shape and size- Kaa was smaller, with a slightly thinner skull and physique. Kaa was very shy, and liked to hide, but he also loved to sit on someone’s lap and have his head petted! He was named after the snake character in The Jungle Book.

Seven (of Nine)

8/2012-8/15/2014

Gender: female

Description: Black Mismarked Hooded Rex Dumbo

Seven was the mother of our eleven ratbabies. She wasn’t the brightest of rats, but she did try to boss everyone around! We called her Seven because she was the seventh rat we chose that day, but we had nine rats because of her, and Seven of Nine from Star Trek was really cool, so our little troublemaker became Seven of Nine. She was daft, delightful, and indomitable to the very last, and is greatly missed.

Eilir

08/2012-07/14/2014

Gender: Female

Description: Grey Self

Eilir was a skittish girl who loved nothing better than getting head-pets. She was pretty independent, and didn’t spend too much time with any one of her ratfriends. She liked to explore, but would never be the first to wander off. She was extremely photogenic, and loved visiting with people. She was a wonderful companion, and I miss her a great deal. We named her after a character I really liked in the book Dies the Fire, by S.M. Stirling.

Sona

08/2012-07/10/2014

Gender: Female

Description: Grey Self Dumbo

Sona was very good friends with Lux, and spent much of her time sleeping on Lux’s back. She was a little shy of people, but she still liked to explore once she was out. Sona was a sweet soul and will be sorely missed. We named Sona after a character in League of Legends.

Luxana

8/2012 – 05/09/2014

Gender: female

Description: Champagne Rex (rex is the curly fur type)

When we were looking for rats in 2012, Lux was the first we picked. She was in a different store from the others, and she was alone there. She was at the time the friendliest and most outgoing rat I’d ever met, and I couldn’t stand the thought that someone might keep her as a single rat. She waited in the car when we went in to the next place, and in the time-honoured tradition of pet store rats, everyone bonded on the terrifying box-ride home. Lux and Sona were fast friends, and even in her last days, the two of them could most frequently be found curled into a little ratty pretzel together. We named Lux after a character in League of Legends.

Shyvana

10/11/2012 – 04/10/2014

Gender: female

Description: Siamese Rex (rex is the curly fur type)

Shyvana was born on October 11th, 2012, as one of eleven ratlets. Shyvana and two of her sisters started out with very different colour patterns, but eventually as they grew up, they became almost indistinguishable. We started calling them our “Soot Babies” or “Smudge Girls” because they looked like their noses and tails had been dipped in soot or smudged. Shyvana was named after a character in the game League of Legends. She really hated sitting still for photographs, so unfortunately we only have baby photos of her. She was only one year and six months old.

Molly

2009 – 11/26/2012

Gender: female

Description: Champagne Hooded Dumbo

Mollysocks was a fine Spokes-ratty, loving the company of everybody, and giving kisses freely. She is best remembered for her thieving ways, and her particular fondness for game pieces (especially Horrors from the game ‘Chaos in the Old World’). Hans and I adopted Molly and Kerrigan after they had already lived with someone else for a while. Molly was already a year old, and she had some little behavioral issues, like chewing the fur off her legs compulsively so she looked like she was wearing socks. She and Kerrigan were best buddies.

Kerrigan

2010 – December/2012

Gender: female

Description: Champagne Variegated Berkshire (variegated Berkshire means that her stomach, and part of her sides were flecked white)

Kerrigan came to us with Molly- her name at the time was Kelsey. Because she was still young enough to respond to the change, we named her after a character in the computer game StarCraft. She had been a breeder, and she didn’t like people at all when she arrived. She did warm up to us, and lived to be a cranky but stately old lady who loved her friend Molly more than anything else, even carrots.

Mythril

2009-2012

Gender: female

Description: Blue Self Dumbo (self means she didn’t have any white)

Mythril was Hans` heart rat- she always wanted to be with him and he loved her for it.

Echo

2009-2012

Gender: female

Description: Black Variegated Berkshire

Echo was a very adventurous girl, and loved Diana best of all her companions.

Mariel noticed right away when Hans and I started dating- she`d been completely fine with him beforehand. The very day we started dating, Mariel started ignoring him entirely- she wouldn`t even take treats from him anymore, and this reaction lasted a good two months. She never really forgave him, but she continued to be a cranky old woman well into her final days. All she ever wanted was to spend time with me, especially after she lost her sister Eris.

Diana

2007-2010

Gender: female

Description: Black Hooded

Diana was the youngest of the first three rats I had- two weeks after I`d brought the other two home, I found her alone in a pet store in Cambridge and couldn`t bear the thought that she might live alone. Mariel hated her immediately, and it took a long time for the three of them to grow accustomed to each other because I had no idea about the proper way to introduce rats to one another. After Senora, Mythril and Echo came home to us, Diana integrated with the younger girls right away. She took on a very motherly role with them, and lived to a ripe old age.

Senora

2009

Gender: female

Description: Silver Self Dumbo with red eyes

Hans and I got Senora, Mythril and Echo to keep Mariel and Diana company after Eris died, but Mariel decided that she hated them on sight and wound up doing best on her own. Senora died very suddenly really young of some sort of neurological problem. She was a beauty queen and knew it- everyone loved her.

Eris was the first of my first mischief of three to die. She died terribly of an infection that I didn’t realize was treatable- I learned a lot from her, and she was my heart rat. I still miss her a great deal.